Gigs of 2013, part one

More gigs! Some familiar bands, some new, and a couple known for their recordings but being seen for the first time. It's a mixed bag.

Toy, Charlie Boyer & the Voyeurs, Novella at the Scala

There's been a buzz about Toy for a while, but I procrastinated long enough about going to this NME Awards show that it sold out. Or so I thought. When I saw a tweet from Novella that they were supporting I looked again, this time directly from the venue's box office, and nabbed myself entrance. At least I was going to enjoy one band on the line-up, and see what I hope would be another promising new bad too.

Novella I've seen before, and they've been songwriting in the past year. A few new tracks open up the set, which sound pretty good, followed by some more familiar tracks. I still like the band and it's good to see them again, and it seems like they've beefed up the bass-lines a little, adding some extra depth to the sound. Chatting with the drummer before the set suggests that an album won't be recorded before the Autumn, but it will probably be worth waiting for.

I'd not heard of second band Charlie Boyer & the Voyeurs, and they come on in an understated manner compared to the snarl of the first song. I'm almost hooked, but lose interest by the end of the set when it's pretty much more of the same without much variation.

And so come Toy. The psych-rock label that's been attributed to them is perhaps a little off, as the songs seem fairly standard to me, if with the occasional extended outro of thrumming guitars. I'm not sure if it is my expectations that are disappointed of Toy are just another average band. They don't match up with the truly raucous Bo Ningen, who I associate with contemporary psych-rock, but I know that genres can be broad and expectations weighty. I have to admit that my review of No Age's album was tainted by the couldn't-be-lower-fi Born Again Revisited by Times New Viking, and, actually, Everything in Between is pretty good. I've enjoyed it every time it comes up on my iPod. But back to tonight, and Toy. When at a gig, I can generally tell that I'll like a band by the end of their set, but with Toy I'm scratching my head a little. I kinda like what I hear, but I find myself constantly evaluating whether or not I'd buy their album without being able to answer either way. I suppose they're okay, then.

Savages, BEAK> at Camden Electric Ballroom

Before the support band plays there is some performance art in the middle of the auditorium. Some, uh, dancers is the wrong word, artists is a stretch but will have to do, accompanied by, uh, music is definitely the wrong word, and soundtrack doesn't quite fit, so let's call it noise, sprawl themselves on the floor for a bit, then crawl, then stand and, well, it's not my scene. It was over-long and tedious, particularly with the incessant droning of the noise whilst the support act were actually ready and waiting on stage. All the while I was trying to ignore the 'performance' I was boggling at how people must have spent time choreographing and rehearsing this. I think I can honestly say I don't understand it. And the audience applaud at the end. Huh.

There is a lot of hype around Savages at the moment, hence their headline on the bill supported by a band with two albums already under their belts. I can't say the hype is justified, as the music was pretty average, although my opinion isn't helped by simply not appreciating the singer's voice. It was all a bit bland, despite not having much expectation beyond just wanting to see what the band was like. It makes me wonder how much people are influenced by what they are told is good, rather than forming individual opinions, however pretentious that makes me sound. But I remember being thoroughly underwhelmed by 2:54's gig, Purity Ring's poor debut album, and Big Deal not being anywhere near as good live as everyone was saying.

My plan to Get Out More a year or so back kinda failed, and tonight's gig, along with Toy's, was sort of a way to resurrect it. I need to realise that the aim isn't really to Get Out More, but for something to happen when getting out more, which it invariably doesn't. So although speculative gigs aren't necessarily a bad night's entertainment, they aren't always the best way to find new music. Fifteen quid for a gig ticket to have lots of waiting, crappy between-set DJs, and beer spilt on me to hear music played once isn't as good a deal as buying a CD for a tenner.

But never mind, because although I was tempted in to seeing Savages on spec I only ended up buying a ticket when I saw that BEAK> were supporting. I really like BEAK>'s second album, and unfortunately didn't get to see them headline the Lexington late last year because I was sick. I'm keen to see them tonight, and the band don't disappoint. There is little departure from the album, but it is all played competently and the nature of playing live means there is some individuality to the songs. Seeing Barrow improvise his solo around the drums on Spinning Top was gorgeous, and adds an extra dimension to merely hearing the recording. The short set ends with my least favourite song on the album, Wulfstan II, but it is still good and watching the support band is the clear highlight of my evening.

The Men, Parquet Courts at The Garage

I never want to see Parquet Courts again. Banal, predictable hooks on their supposedly catchy songs, miserable, depressing dirges on anything slow, and a general feeling of a lack of cohesion has the music wallow in the very depths of mediocrity that, with a stage presence consisting of a bass player who thinks that violently shaking his head somehow looks cool and a guitarist who plays half of his solos facing his amplifier instead of the audience, borders on the truly dreadful.

Thankfully, I resist the urge to leave before main act The Men come on stage. And they take their time about it, but in a good way. The lap steel guitarist starts playing a riff, and keeps going for a couple of minutes before the bass player comes on and joins in. He's followed a short while later by both guitarists jumping up from the audience in the small venue, and eventually the drummer appears and the first song is played in full. And what a difference between Parquet Courts and The Men. The Men are animated and exude presence; their sound is full and complete, such that even during the solos, where one or both guitars necessarily drop out to play their own part, there are never any 'gaps'; their competence with their instruments is never questioned, as whatever sounds they produce always seem to be fully intended and under their control. The Men are excellent.

It's not just the stark contrast between support act and main band that makes The Men look good. They are good. Damned brilliant, in fact. I can't say I recognise many of the songs played, despite having three of their albums, and it's only really the new material, from latest album New Moon, where the songs are more traditionally structured, that I recognise. But that's just fine, because the rest of the time The Men get the foundation of a song playing and then let fly with solos and improvised riffing, creating a magnificent wall of sound that remains musically enjoyable. A small mosh pit even forms, and two or three people manage to crowd surf towards the stage. And each time they do, ultimately to be grabbed by security, one of the guitarists grins broadly with appreciation. Loud, energetic, and enthusiastic. The Men are as brilliant live as their recordings suggest.

Bo Ningen at Camden Dingwalls

I've had a crappy day, and realised only the night before that the receipt for my ticket was just a receipt, and not a voucher-like receipt for redemption at the venue doors. Considering how many times I've already seen Bo Ningen and that second album Line the Wall didn't exactly set my CD player on fire, I feel ready to sulk at home for the evening. But a little prod from Twitter and a phone call to my friendly ticket agency—who have before been able to convert an uncollected ticket to a guest-list booking, but this time told me that the event promoters have already effectively done this, not actually having released any tickets—and I'm ready to give my evening another chance. But I not going to turn up for the support act and stand around for ages doing nothing.

Well, that was the plan, but despite leaving later than usual and having a good idea when Bo Ningen are due on stage, I still catch the last couple of songs from... I dunno. Some band. I am content to ignore them, however much I enjoy finding new music. I'm really not in the mood. The support act disappear, I get near the front of the venue, and wait for Bo Ningen to come out. And first song is the relatively bland Daikaisei Part I, with its pretty standard riffing. But that's actually okay, because it acts as a warm up for everyone, and I know that parts II and III kick it up more than just a notch. I may be getting in to this already.

More songs from Line the Wall are played, a new track or two is thrown in to the set list, and Bo Ningen are on fire. Maybe mosh pits are becoming fashionable again, but the formation of tonight's seems spontaneous and motivated by the sheer energy being projected from the stage and speakers. Crowd surfers are picked up, dropped, and picked up again, and no one really minds. Everyone just wants to have a good time. When Taigen says they have just two more songs left to play it seems a bit early, but he does mention that they are long. And they are long, about twenty minutes in total for two songs. First is slow-burner Ten to Sen, which really takes a while to get going, but the crescendo goes from almost nothing to ear-bleeding distortion in a way that the recorded version sadly doesn't.

Final song Shin Ichi is a perfect mix of heavy grooves and thumping beats coupled with flailing guitar solos, which Bo Ningen extend more than the cinematic version of The Hobbit but with more relevance. Everyone is bouncing, slamming, climbing on anything and anyone for the climax of the set, and rightly so. Bo Ningen may have failed to capture the essence of their performance in the recordings for Line the Wall, but seeing them live shows just how vital their music continues to be. The album is an unfortunate shade of what they can sound like, how big they can feel, but the essence is there. A short encore has one last song, kept brief but intense, and I am thrown back in to the Camden streets blissfully happy to have come to tonight's gig. Bo Ningen definitely need to be experienced live now more than ever.

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Tags: beak>, bo ningen, charlie boyer and the voyeurs, dingwalls, electric ballroom, garage, gig, novella, parquet courts, savages, scala, the men, toy

Making ISK misses gooing

I'm still looking for other pilots. Hey, there's one. Hi Fin. 'Just scanned the wormhole, did not open it yet. Updated the bookmarks.' Nifty. ...is it just the static wormhole at home? 'Yes, ma'am.' Do we want iskies? 'We probably should.' Yeah. We have enough anomalies in the home w-space system to keep us busy for an evening. Let's do it.

We keep our system's static wormhole unvisited for now, which probably means it remains closed to whatever destination system it will connect to, so that we are better isolated from potential threats. Swapping from scanning boats to paired Sleeper Tengu strategic cruisers, I select the nearest anomaly and warp the both of us in to combat. Or nearly, anyway.

Our heavy missiles no longer reach quite so far, which leaves us a little time of manoeuvring closer to the Sleepers before we can inflict any damage on them. It's no big deal, though, and we are soon raining as much destruction on the drones as the searing cloud of evanescent pain is to our eyes. I am pretty sure this amount of bloom could be considered cruel or unusual punishment for attempting to make some ISK.

We push through the blindness, which is easy enough once actually blind, and operate on instruments alone to clear the first anomaly, repeating the exercise for a second. A few disconnects, no doubt caused by excessive processing needed to render so much white so intensely, hamper our efficiency, but the third and fourth anomalies pass more smoothly when the cloud is reduced to natural luminance levels.

Clearing four anomalies is a pretty good effort for us and should reap a decent reward, if we can get the loot home. A quick sweep of the system reveals no new signatures, so there is no change in whoever was watching us before. Tengus are swapped for Noctis salvagers, and we warp off in different directions to claim different piles of wrecks. No one interrupts as we loot and salvage, and we both return to our tower with intact ships stuffed with potential ISK. If we get it to empire we should be a little under half-a-billion ISK richer.

It's not a thrilling start to the evening but its occasionally necessary, particularly when we like to throw strategic cruisers at other pilots when we can. Oh, right. Other pilots. I was looking for them. Now I can be a bit more active than checking the corporate communication channel. I get back in to my Loki, warp to the bookmarked wormhole, and jump to the neighbouring class 3 system to see what I've missed.

A tower and Iteron appear on my directional scanner in C3a. It is hardly an inspiring result, but the hauler could be piloted and preparing to pick up planet goo. Nope, it's empty, which locating the tower shows me. Scanning is straightforward too, one anomaly and five signatures showing the local six-pilot corporation to be quite active, or the system to be well-visited.

Only two signatures are chubby enough to be immediately interesting, one of which is just rocks and the other being our K162. But it's the slimmer signatures that are interesting, with two resolving to be wormholes. One wormhole smells of null-sec, which I leave be to warp to the second, which turns out to be a lovely outbound connection to class 1 w-space. I wonder if there's anything soft to shoot there.

An Iteron appears on my directional scanner. Nothing else. Just the hauler. That catches my attention. I bookmark the wormhole, because it only takes a second, as long as I don't bother to also label it, and start sweeping d-scan around each planet in turn. Of course, I may be pointing d-scan at the planet, but I'm actually checking the coincident customs offices. And there's the Iteron. I'm in warp.

Before I reach the customs office I know the Iteron has moved on. D-scan shows me nothing directly ahead and, unfortunately, nothing within its range. Or fortunately. There's a tower now visible, brought in to range by warping away from the wormhole to this planet, which leaves only one planet now out of d-scan range. The Iteron must be there, and hopefully getting cosy with the customs office. Once again, I'm in warp.

I don't find the Iteron directly, but again by using d-scan. A second tower lies in this direction, which the hauler was aiming for instead of the customs office. Locating the tower is simple enough, where I finally get eyes on the Iteron, and although I hope the hauler will head out for more planet goo, her disposition, far from a hangar in which to dump the current load, says no.

A second hauler, a Badger, appearing on d-scan gives more hope, particularly as the Iteron goes off-line. Maybe a secondary installation requires the attention of an alternative capsuleer. I watch and wait, but only to see the Badger float passively until replaced itself, this time by a Magnate frigate, a somewhat less-capable hauler, but only briefly. The Magnate too goes off-line moments later. I have to tell Fin to stand down, and she takes her interdictor away from the first planet's customs office, where she was tentatively waiting for a fly to catch, back out of the system and home, with me following behind.

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Tags: badger, eve online, iteron, loki, magnate, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, scanning, sleepers, tengu, w-space

More wormholes than ships

I have a bookmark to delete. I should have done it earlier, noting that the wormhole is no longer present, but narrowly jumping back through it as the Thanatos carrier crashed the connection distracted me a little. I'm feeling more relaxed now, so I update the bookmark, and I update glorious leader Fin, who has used my earlier scanning to hit high-sec. I follow behind her as far as I'm comfortable with, which means jumping through the K162 in the home system to the connected class 2 w-space system, which holds the exit to high-sec. That's as close as I'll get to empire space for now.

C2a looks almost the same as it did before. A tower, big ships. That Bhaalgorn is new, though, and I'm almost wishing Fin were closer in case the faction battleship were active, but a lack of Sleeper wrecks suggests otherwise. But a new ship means a new contact, so I warp to the tower to keep tabs on, well, no one. The battleship is unpiloted. That's weird. Did someone come on-line just to eject another big ship to float temptingly inside the tower's force field? Evidently. It must be relatively recently done too, as Fin, on her return, asks me if the Bhaalgorn is new. Seems so.

I ignore C2a's lack of pilots and head home, having more options to explore. Not better options, mind you, as our neighbouring class 3 w-space system is unoccupied and leads to null-sec drone space, and the K162 from class 5 w-space was merely a bridging system to the earlier scouts from a second C5. But C5a at least has a tower, so I pop in to see if anything's happening. A Tengu strategic cruiser is idling inside the force field, if that counts. And it's doesn't, not really. But having potential activity around us is frustrating. There's nothing we can poke with sticks, but we are taking a serious risk if we try to be industrious instead.

The good news is that the class 5 system's static wormhole has the same characteristics as our own, and my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser dropped the connection to its half-mass state on my transit. That will make it easier to collapse, and we can do that in tandem with killing our own static wormhole, leaving us a fresh constellation to explore. Oh, except for the K162 to C2a. Hmm. It's not a great idea, but it's good enough for Fin to run with. She throws an Orca back-and-forth in the home system, between our static wormhole and the K162 to C5a, calling me back from watching the Tengu do nothing before I get isolated. Two wormholes are collapsed with little fuss.

We still have the C2 K162 at home, but that's okay. We also have a new static wormhole to find, and hopefully a different class 3 system beyond it. And, it seems, another K162 to find in the home system, as an unexpected unknown signature crops up as I'm scanning for the new static wormhole. We have a second C2 K162 at home now. At least we weren't interrupted when killing the other wormholes, I suppose, but just when we think we're plugging the holes we spring another leak.

I may as well see what's in C2b, particularly as there could actually be pilots there. Or, you know, nothing. There's a tower but no ships, and scanning for K162s only finds one coming from high-sec. It looks like a tourist came this way and went straight back to a space station. Another system to ignore. I jump home, warp, and enter C3a through our static wormhole, where my directional scanner is disappointingly clear of ships and occupation again. My combat scanning probes don't change the picture, with twelve anomalies and twenty-five signatures giving the system an unkempt feel.

Let me scan for K162s, quick quick. There's the static exit to low-sec, which is fine but not interesting. A second wormhole is a K162, coming from more class 2 w-space, followed by three more K162s, all opened from null-sec k-space. One w-space connection gives me an obvious direction to travel. C2c should have a tower within d-scan range from the wormhole, from my notes that are only three months old, but that's gone, and cleanly too. Other occupation has taken its place, found by a bit of exploration, and my probes show me three anomalies, four signatures, and one ship.

The ship is a Drake, the battlecruiser nestled inside one of three towers' force fields, piloted but doing little more than gazing wistfully at the starlight. Unlike the Tengu, the Drake has solo utility in its home system, making me think it's worth watching for a while. But not for long. I don't find serenity in staring at inactivity for long periods of time, although it's quite relaxing watching you sleep. But I've said too much, and spent long enough waiting for the Drake to move. He's not going anywhere. Unlike me. I'm going home.

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Tags: bhaalgorn, drake, eve online, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, tengu, w-space

Seeing the signs

I'm giving it another go at getting up early to catch an unsuspecting gooer. All looks clear at home, but that is a reaction to my directional scanner and hardly representative of what may be out there. Indeed, launching probes and scanning, a necessary action to resolve our static connection anyway, sees a second signature, one that resolves to be a K162 from class 2 w-space. Maybe someone is awake and active at this hour already. I jump through the K162 to find out.

Appearing over seven kilometres from the wormhole in C2a gives me a fair indication that no one has actually come this way since today's Great Galactic Reset, which, admittedly, was not long ago. I poke around, though, uncovering a tower with an Orca industrial command ship, Archon carrier, and Moros dreadnought all unsurprisingly unpiloted inside its force field. They are the sort of ships that tend to look inactive by dint of their appearing on d-scan, so I wouldn't have expected much of them anyway.

Scanning resolves the expected static exit to high-sec, expected partly because of the connection to our home class 4 w-space system, and if not that then because of a previous visit not too long ago. There's no Sabre interdictor sitting on the wormhole this time, though, and I don't jump through to note the exit system, as the wormhole is at the end of its life and mostly useless. Instead, I turn around, head home, and out again through our static connection to class 3 w-space.

Bah, this time I'm spat over eight kilometres from the wormhole in to the system. No one's an early riser this weekend. On top of that, my notes from ten months ago put C3a as unoccupied and with an exit to null-sec, making it less attractive by the minute. At least scanning won't be a chore. For a system that stays unoccupied there aren't many signatures, relatively speaking, with sixteen of them to go with the six anomalies.

As there's no tower to lurk outside, watching for movements, I sit next to our K162 as I sift through the signatures. And doing so pays off, kinda. A Cheetah appears, apparently from nowhere, or he's found a way to jump through wormholes without making a sound. And because I can't anticipate his appearance, I can only watch as I switch from the system map to my view of space to see the covert operations boat launch a deep space scanning probe and start burning away from me pretty quickly. What can keep up with a Cheetah?

After a short while, I'm going to guess around ten seconds, the Cheetah poops more scanning probes, cores this time, whilst continuing its rapid vector away from the wormhole. I consider bringing my combat probes on top of the wormhole to scan for the Cheetah's position, but think better of it. Even once the cov-ops gets 150 km from me, far enough for warp, it will take me long enough to cover that distance in warp for the Cheetah to have moved out of range of my warp scrambler. Besides, the cov-ops cloaks once her core probes are all in space, making her essentially impossible to find.

For now, I'll ignore the Cheetah. It doesn't look like she's noticed me anyway, as my probes were out of d-scan range when the pilot entered the system. I keep scanning, resolving two wormholes. One is obviously the exit to null-sec, the other felt weaker than a K162 when resolving it, but that has to be attributed to shoddy scanning methods when I drop out of warp next to a K162 from low-sec empire space. Not too interested in low-sec, I poke my prow out to null-sec, to a system in The Kalevala Expanse, where, being alone, I warp to a rock field to rat and scan.

Damn, I hate drones. Yeah, maybe they offer security status gains now, but they still have some really crappy sites. Ten extra signatures in the system look really promising to start with, until drilling down with my probes uncovers signature after signature of 'unknown' type, enticing enough to want them to be wormholes, and weak enough to force me to waste several scans to discover Radiance, Hierarchy, Independence. I hate drones more than I hate low-sec. If the Cheetah pilot from C3a hadn't appeared in the local channel, disappearing a minute later, obviously back to C3a, this excursion to null-sec would have been a waste of time.

I follow behind the Cheetah, a few minutes later, still needing to exhaust the horrible drone signatures, to see an apparently empty system. Home looks clear too, but as the Cheetah appeared on our K162 I think there's more than meets the eye. I launch probes and, sure enough, there's a new signature, resolving to be another K162 connecting in to us, this one from class 5 w-space. But is it the Cheetah's home? Jumping in and exploring says no. There's a tower to be found, but there are no ships and the corporation does not match that of the Cheetah pilot. I suspect another K162 waits for me. Those Sleeper wrecks are curious too.

Scanning is straightforward, with a magnetometric site, two ladar sites, and the expected wormhole, but the results aren't complete. The Sleeper wrecks are in empty space, and there aren't enough to be from a combat site. Maybe the wrecks were looted and not salvaged, the gas sucked up, and the site forgotten. Whatever happened, I can't do anything about it now, so I warp to the K162 and jump to the next system, which is the inevitable backwards chain of class 5 w-space. Then again, with a bit of exploration, it looks like the chain probably stops here.

D-scan is clear from the wormhole, with two planets out of range, both in opposite directions. One planet has a tower with five Orcas, four Venture mining frigates, and an Obelisk, with two of the Orcas and all the Ventures piloted. The planet on the other side of the system also has a tower, this one with the Cheetah I've already seen inside its force field, plus a piloted Proteus strategic cruiser, and empty Thanatos and Chimera carries, and Moros dreadnought. I don't suppose there is a K162 heading further backwards, or if there is I'm not currently interested in it. I launch probes anyway, out of range of the towers, in case I need them, and warp to lurk outside the tower with the Ventures.

As I get to the tower a second Cheetah appears, having warped from the system's static wormhole to C5a, soon followed by a Probe frigate coming from the same direction. Although there are no obvious signs, I think it's fair to assume I've been identified and assumed to be active somewhere in the w-space constellation. That there are three active scouts from C5b and the Ventures are sitting inertly inside a force field instead of sucking gas somewhere are clues. Some ship changes occur at the tower, but nothing serious until a Thanatos appears.

The new carrier is moving too, which I initially take to be residual movement from being launched, right up until it disappears. It didn't look like the massive ship warped, but I'd better check to see if it has gone to the static wormhole. I'd feel a bit silly if I saw a carrier being prepared and did nothing as it crashed my way home. And, sure enough, warping to the wormhole sees the Thanatos sitting on top of it. Although the carrier remains in C5b for now, the only reason a carrier would be sent to a wormhole by itself would be to kill it—carrier or wormhole, either way—and prudence is telling me to get the hell out of here.

I recall my probes and approach the wormhole, not caring that the Thanatos sees me decloak and jump in front of it. C5a looks clear from the K162, but only for a few seconds. A Cheetah warps in and jumps through the wormhole, which destabilises to half mass. I doubt a cov-ops boat would do that by itself, so I'm not surprised to see the Thanatos appear, having crossed paths with the Cheetah, before jumping straight back to C5b, dragging the rest of the wormhole with it. I float in empty space.

Well, that was close, again. Another thirty seconds of deliberation and I'd have been isolated from our home system. I suppose I'm lucky that the Thanatos was sent from the tower with the Ventures, rather than the carrier used at the second tower. Not only would I have not seen the carrier sent to the wormhole, but the wormhole was out of d-scan range of both towers. I would have been oblivious to my fate for as long as it took to get bored watching ships do nothing. Anyway, I'm safe. And in a dead constellation again. That's lunch.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Seeing the signs
Tags: archon, cheetah, chimera, eve online, mmorpg, moros, obelisk, orca, penny ibramovic, probe, proteus, scanning, thanatos, venture, w-space

The only wormhole in the sector

I'm up and about early again, hoping to sneak in to another capsuleer's system to catch them unawares. Planet gooing or salvaging Sleepers—or even actively engaging Sleepers—I don't really mind, as long as it's an activity I can interrupt with explosions, preferably theirs. A new signature in the home system offers hope that someone looking for Sleepers has found their way to our system, but resolves to be Sleepers protecting rocks in a gravimetric site instead. With one way to go I resolve our static wormhole and jump to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system.

Well, there may be no planet goo being collected at the moment, but those combat ships look appealing. A Raven battleship, Tengu strategic cruiser, and Drake and Hurricane battlecruiser all look like they could be up to something, but the Falcon recon ship and complete lack of wrecks visible on my directional scanner are contra-indicative to Sleeper slaying. I suppose they're either waiting for specific or speculative reasons somewhere, or sitting at the tower also on d-scan.

Locating the tower in C3a is straightforward enough, where I can see that all of the ships are indeed disappointingly but unsurprisingly empty of other pilots. I am rather early, after all. It's not like I don't encounter this situation even during peak times, and without much further thought I warp away from the tower, launch probes, and perform a blanket scan of the system. Twenty-one anomalies and fifteen signatures make for a messy system. As I know I won't be around later I am looking for wormholes only, however much I want to activate all the redundant sites of gas and rock resources. The anomalies I can do, though, leaving behind a mess of labels in the system map as I exit through the sole wormhole to low-sec empire space.

The system in Placid looks pretty boring to me, and scanning doesn't change my opinion, revealing a ladar site and a Serpentis Outpost. And that looks like that. I've hit the end of the constellation already. I suppose I could hop through a stargate. I may not be a fan of low-sec space, but I'm less of a fan of doing nothing. I accept the admittedly low risk of running in to a gate camp, further mitigating any risk by picking a sensible direction to head, and hop through a stargate to scan a second system.

The second system has a sole signature to resolve, which I almost do. I get far enough to see that it is a magnetometric site, at which point I lose interest. But that gate jump was uneventful enough to spur me in to doing it a second time. Hop. But scanning this third system finds nothing. Not a single signature for me to idly whittle down from a red dot, to yellow triangle, perhaps teasing me with its misleading 'unknown' type, before finally revealing itself to be drones mechanically mocking me.

I consider briefly collapsing our static wormhole to take a repeat look around a w-space constellation, but instead take the barren space as a sign. Nothing's out here at the moment. I'm up too early. I still head back to w-space, though, as I'm not staying out here. The stargates present minimal risk again, ships sensibly not appearing from nowhere, understanding that there are better activities than waiting for the no one in the vastness of space to stumble through the wrong interlink. I don't even pause at the tower in C3a, d-scan already showing me the lack of change in the system, as I head home. But I'm getting the shakes again. I need to find someone to shoot soon.

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Tags: drake, eve online, falcon, hurricane, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, raven, scanning, tengu, w-space

Empty ships and dying wormholes

Someone's been scanning in our system. The bookmark folder looks current, which isn't much in itself, but the naming convention isn't ours and the home system is referred to by our names. If I didn't know any better, I'd say our class 5 sister w-space system connects to us today. But I may not know any better, as I can't parse the bookmarks to see how they connect to the other system, even when opening their subfolder of wormhole bookmarks. I suppose the best way to find out is to take a look around.

Warping to the bookmark for our static wormhole indeed lands me next to our static wormhole, which is a good start. Jumping to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system, however, gives me exits to high-sec empire space and null-sec k-space, which don't tie up with the connections leading to the class 5 system. The breadcrumbs have ended, leaving me wondering why the names of the bookmarks are so different. Actually, the best way to have found out would be to talk to someone, and still is, but that's not my style. I'll just check out the exit to null-sec.

C3a is familiar to me from my notes, and although the occupation is new since two years ago there's no one home, so I warp to the system's static wormhole and exit to null-sec. I appear in the Curse region, where one other pilot in the system discourages me from ratting but not scanning. It's finding nothing but the wormhole I'm sitting on that discourages me from scanning. I still have another connection in w-space to check, so return to C3a, warp across the system, and exit through a K162 to high-sec empire space, where scanning may reveal one extra signature but it resolves to be merely rocks.

At least I'm in high-sec space, where stargate-hopping is generally safe. I point my cloaky Loki strategic cruiser towards an arbitrarily chosen stargate, hop, and try again. This time there are three signatures in the 0·5 security system, which I feel bodes well. And it almost does. A K162 from class 2 w-space sitting at half-mass is decent enough, and looks much better when compared to the K162 from class 1 w-space at the end of its life, and the outbound wormhole to class 5 w-space that is both EOL and critically destabilised. The C2 K162 wins, for almost guaranteeing to stick around if I jump through it.

Entering C2a has a tower visible on my directional scanner, plus an Iteron hauler. The ship turning out to be empty is a shame, but not the end of the world, as the class 2 system has another static wormhole to find, this one connecting to w-space. I like C2s for this reason. There may even be a K162 leading to activity. Oh, stop it, I'm getting myself excited. I warp out, launch probes, and sit on the high-sec wormhole as I sift through the two anomalies and six signatures, on the assumption that the locals didn't stress the wormhole and that I'm better off watching for transits than pilots appearing at the tower.

Ladar, ladar, radar, wormhole, wormhole, ladar. The outbound connection to class 1 w-space is nice, the EOL K162 from class 3 w-space not so much. I head through the healthy connection, updating d-scan to see not much at all once in C1b. Twenty-six anomalies, picked up on a passive scan, suggest the system is unoccupied, but the tower appearing on d-scan as I explore the system suggests otherwise. There are even ships, quite a few of them, and industrial too. They're empty, of course, and floating inside the tower's force field.

The few signatures revealed in a blanket scan reinforces the idea that the locals are more industrial than combat-orientated, which makes it a shame they are antipodean in origin and probably sleeping one off. I sort through the signatures anyway, in case there is more to find, and, amongst the rocks and gas, there is indeed a second wormhole. The static exit to low-sec is uninteresting, but the K162 from low-sec that's at the end of its life is even less interesting.

Okay, that's it. I got some scanning done, explored a few w-space systems, and found exactly no one. I didn't even explain the mystery of the curious bookmarks, but I didn't open my yap to do so either. The best I've done is found shadows of activity, through dying and destabilised wormholes. As if to prove this, heading home has C2a's static exit to high-sec now wobbling away, in its EOL stage, indicating that I really did choose the wrong rabbit hole this evening.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Empty ships and dying wormholes
Tags: eve online, iteron, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Getting the timing just right

Hi Fin. 'The C2 may still be open.' Okay, great. I'll work out what that means in a minute, as soon as I've got my bearings. Ah, my glorious leader scanned earlier, resolving a K162 from class 2 w-space which may still be around some hours later. I'll check its situation with scanning probes and my eyes combined. Warping to the bookmarked location sees the wormhole still there and healthy, and my probes detect another new signature in the home system. I'll see what that is whilst Fin reconnoitres ahead of me.

It's just more Sleepers at home, and as C2a is reported sleepy I'll head in the other direction, through our static connection. The neighbouring class 3 w-space system has an Oracle battlecruiser visible on the directional scanner, but no wrecks, and a tower and Bestower hauler too. My notes from ten months ago don't point me to the tower's location, as the only planet in range—the next being over 55 AU away, and the farthest over 188 AU distant—is not where it was last time, but I don't need my notes. That single planet has just one moon, so that finding the tower is trivial.

Both ships float inside the force field without capsuleers. A bit of warping around shows that the current occupation doesn't supplement the old but replaces it, and there are no more towers or ships elsewhere. I launch probes to scan. Three anomalies and seven signatures take a little longer than normal to sort through, thanks to the sheer volume of space between planets, and, as usual, I'm left looking at gas, more gas, a few rocks, and one wormhole leading out to low-sec empire space.

The exit throws me in to a system in Kor-Azor, which is dreary, and scanning the three extra signatures gives me two radar sites and, hello, a K162 from class 3 w-space. That'll do. Two towers and a lack of ships is all d-scan wants to show me in C3b, though, with all seven planets and seven moons in range. Back to scanning, the five anomalies and four signatures contain the inevitable K162, this one coming from class 5 w-space. Let's see if that system is the origin of activity, or if I have more scanning to do.

Jumping to C5a and punching d-scan sees three towers, two Orca industrial command ships, and a Bestower in a force field. Well, probably in a force field, but maybe not. The sentence just scanned better that way. A previous visit from eighteen months ago lists just the one tower, which remains, and looking a bit harder finds the other two towers around adjacent moons. The Bestower floats empty in one tower with one Orca, the second Orca actually piloted in a second tower, though inactive, naturally.

As I prepare to launch scanning probes again a Drake appears on d-scan. The battlecruiser doesn't appear to be at one of the three towers, but what he's doing in C5 w-space alone confuses me. A fighter that size couldn't get this deep in to space on its own. Two Drakes, however, and now three, makes, well, just as little sense, really, and adding a Manticore stealth bomber isn't helping matters. Pointing d-scan meaningfully around the system shows two Drakes sitting on the wormhole to C3b. I should probably see what they're up to.

Warping to the wormhole finds the Drakes, and shows that they are local to this class 5 system. Quite where they came from, though, remains unexplained. They weren't at a tower, and now they're at this wormhole. If they had been at a tower and warped this way I may think they were going to engage Sleepers through their static connection, but simply appearing and warping in this direction indicates other activity. As does the Stiletto interceptor allied to the Drakes that drops on to the wormhole. This ain't no Sleeper fleet.

The Stiletto jumps to C3a and, after a minute or so, the two Drakes follow. That's curious indeed. Let me approach the wormhole, because if they jump back quickly I can leave this C5 without them being able to follow, thanks to hull polarisation. If they come back. Which they don't. Not yet. And not now, either. So, what to do: death or boredom? But what are they doing? I doubt they are waiting for me, as nothing indicates they saw me enter their system, even if scouts tend not to be seen themselves. So if they're not waiting for me, they probably aren't sitting on the other side of the wormhole. Probably.

Squinting really hard at the centre of the class 5 system's static wormhole can't see any ships on the other side, in C3b, which I think is a good sign. I'll take a punt that the small fleet has moved on and, hello, the Orca has picked a good time to turn in to a Tengu strategic cruiser. The new ship disappears, either gone off-line or cloaked, I don't care. I'm returning to C3a, because I'm getting bored. Take a deep breath, decloak, and jump.

The wormhole's clear. That's good. I move, cloak, and punch d-scan as holy crap the fleet warps in and drops on top of the wormhole a couple of seconds after I get clear. Two Drakes and the Stiletto miss seeing my Loki strategic cruiser being non-cloaky by the narrowest margin, but the third Drake coming a few seconds afterwards is embarrassingly late. I'm pretty sure the fleet wasn't looking for me specifically but, even so, I warp to C3a's exit to low-sec without delay. You know, just in case. The ships drop off d-scan as I'm in warp, presumably jumping through the wormhole. They're going home. As am I, and in one piece, thanks to some pretty good timing.

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Tags: bestower, drake, eve online, loki, manticore, mmorpg, oracle, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, stiletto, tengu, w-space

Staying for the Sleepers

'I was just talking to myself.' Don't stop on my account. 'I did some maths.' For dreadnought building? 'Orca building.' Glorious leader Fin has been working on getting more profit out of our activities, and is looking to kill two birds with one stone. Why transport bulky ore out to empire space when we can turn it in to an industrial command ship, and fly that ship out to market to sell for more ISK than the ore is worth? Even with the godawful mineral loss from using a refinery at the tower, we'll be making enough profit on each Orca to make the industry worthwhile. And those profits will help buy the capital parts needed for a dreadnought, or maybe just a carrier. Or both. Both, yes.

Fin's currently chewing on rocks to help the plans along, keeping our static wormhole inactive as she does, but is nearly finished. I can cool my boots for a few minutes more, and just shoot the breeze in the meantime. It doesn't take long before the mining drones are recalled and Fin's exhumer warps back to our tower. The Bustard will be okay, right? I don't get an answer until I've jumped to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system, seen a Mammoth hauler, shuttle, and tower on my directional scanner, located them all, and found the ships empty. 'Yes', says Fin, wisely choosing to answer only after getting the transport out to collect the ore and back to the tower.

I had to locate the tower in C3a manually, despite a previous visit to the system less than two months ago. I think I jumped in to the system only to help crash our wormhole, so I don't even know what the static wormhole for this C3 is. The tower is guarded a little too. I manage to avoid all of the canisters pointed starwards, which could act as a decloaking minefield for the unwary, and miss by a few kilometres a lone outlier floating at a standard warp-in point for the moon. But no one's watching, just the tower defences, making me rather ambivalent to the risk.

Warp, launch, blanket. Nine anomalies and six signatures don't offer anything beyond the unknown static wormhole, although it's safe to assume it leads to low-sec Aridia, and a single magnetometric site sits amongst the gas. Shall we break out the Tengus, bringing our strategic cruisers in to pop Sleepers? 'Absolutely. Or is there a negative effect?' Heh, I think I would have oh, there's a cataclysmic variable phenomenon. The extra flaming balls of fusion should have tipped me off a bit sooner. But it should be okay. Cat-vars are friendly, right?

The cataclysmic variable affects the efficiency of local repair modules, but not remote repairs, which works for our paired Tengus. And as there's a magnetometric site to clear we weren't even thinking of using our local rep-dependent Golem marauder. It's almost like I know what I'm doing. And, this time, our plan works quite well, maybe because we did the same only recently. Two Tengus rip through Sleepers in the magnetometric site, and we leave the artefacts and wrecks for later, moving from that site in to the system's anomalies.

We need to be more cautious now, as anomalies can be found without even trying, but the system stays quiet as we clear one, two, three, four of our favoured type of anomaly, all that C3a holds. If we can sweep up the loot and take it home it should be a profitable evening. Back at our tower, Fin grabs a Noctis salvager, I a Blackbird cruiser, and we return to C3a to clear up behind ourselves. I get the Blackbird's rack of mid-slot analyser II modules working, cracking open and recovering the loot of three artefacts in a single combined cycle, as if they were normal containers. It takes longer to move between the artefacts, and the cruiser has a micro warp drive fitted.

I take the artefacts home and swap the Blackbird for a second Noctis, going back to C3a to help Fin salvage the anomalies. I don't do very well, getting the standard loot but meagre salvage, so it's good that Fin brings home the bacon. And we bring it all home, without interruption, to bag us over 350 Miskies in profit. Very nice indeed. And I think that's it for tonight. I didn't even find out the static wormhole type in C3a. Oh, except I did. The signature wasn't weak, like a K346 to null-sec, nor medium strength like a D845 to high-sec, making its chubbiness typical for a U210 exit to low-sec. And I bet it does go to Aridia.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Staying for the Sleepers
Tags: blackbird, bustard, eve online, mammoth, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, scanning, sleepers, tengu, w-space

Back to simple scanning

Nothing happening but Sleeper proliferation in the home system today. New gas and rocks have wandered in to the system, no doubt with their Sleeper protectors, leaving me with only the static wormhole to travel through for excitement and adventure. Or tedious scanning for no ultimate reward. Well, would you look at that. My directional scanner doesn't show me much, but the canister wishing the locals a Merry Christmas takes me back a bit.

The can is a couple of years old now, placed after we put a local tower in to reinforced mode on Christmas Eve, and we've visited this class 3 w-space system once more since then, a year ago. The system was unoccupied on that previous visit and remains so now, and my notes give me the joyous news that I'll looking for a static exit to null-sec if I scan. There's not much else I can do, though, so I launch probes and start sifting through the eleven anomalies and nine signatures.

I ignore the obvious gas build-up, take multiple scans to determine a couple of radar sites aren't the static wormhole, and resolve what actually is the K346. And a final signature turns out to be a chubby wormhole, which will be a K162. It's not a crappy K162 that comes from k-space either, this one connecting from class 3 w-space and extending the constellation, and maybe even leading further back. I jump through the wormhole to find out.

Phew, what a wealth of notes. This is my eighth recorded visit, the last being five months ago. Despite only bubbles appearing on d-scan my notes direct me towards the same tower as before, where two carriers and four lesser ships all float quite empty of capsuleers inside the active force field. How ordinary. Performing a blanket scan of C3b shows that the locals really don't make use of the big ships, not with fifty anomalies present. Thankfully, only fourteen signatures stand between me and more exploration.

Just the one wormhole comes from resolving the fourteen signatures, which will lead to low-sec empire space. But before I leave, I activate all of the anomalies, almost to the frustration of my capacitor, which keeps being sucked for juice by the warp drives moments before each command is cancelled. Hopefully my next visit will be to a much cleaner system. Now to see whereabouts I'm thrown in to low-sec.

The U210 spits me out in a faction warfare system in Black Rise, where two additional signatures give me one wormhole for my scanning efforts. The K162 from class 1 w-space looks good too. Jumping to C1a has promise on updating d-scan, but the pair of drones don't have any ships to accompany them, nor are there wrecks to suggest the owner of the drones will be back. A tower is soon located, as is the wormhole back to low-sec once I've launched probes, thanks to the reminder on the system map. It's been a while since I last forgot to bookmark the other side of a wormhole.

Now that I once again know the way home, the other nine anomalies and fourteen signatures can be analysed, preferably for K162s. It's a specific task, so I ignore the weakest signatures that quite obviously aren't K162s, and poke the rest. The last prospective signature gives me the 'unknown' type I'm looking for, but the wormhole from high-sec isn't quite what I wanted, particularly as the wormhole is at the end of its life. And critically unstable. W-space ain't doing it today, and I'm not in the mood to collapse our static connection to try again. I'm going home for an early night.

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Tags: eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Running in to trouble

Fed and watered, I'm curious about the current state of the w-space constellation. Glorious leader Fin's out and about, but mostly in Amarr buying and selling, so I'll be relying on my own reconnaissance and earlier scanning for the moment. Jumping to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system sees a change to my directional scanner result, with three drones visible that weren't around earlier. 'There was a tourist from high-sec sitting on the wormhole when I exited', says Fin, 'in an Ishtar'. The drones may well have belonged to the heavy assault ship, and been abandoned when the going got too tough. They appear to be in an anomaly, anyway.

Moving on from an otherwise unchanged, and so inactive, C3a I jump to the only other connected w-space system, C6a. I'm not too concerned, as the deadly w-space system was unoccupied earlier and I don't expect much to have changed in a few hours, which lets me cross it and transit through its static wormhole to C5a. The class 5 system is also unoccupied, but gives me options. I head through a K162 to class 4 w-space, and from there, ignoring the other C4 K162 through which I popped a salvager earlier, to a K162 coming from class 3 w-space. C3b is my first waypoint, and the start of currently unexplored space.

D-scan is clear from the other side of the wormhole, and exploring finds a tower with an Apocalypse battleship floating empty inside its force field. A poke with probes reveals three anomalies and four signatures, which won't take long to resolve. I call my probes in and, what are the odds, a Buzzard covert operations boat warps in to the tower just as they become visible on d-scan. Hoping the pilot is a little lackadaisical with d-scan I hide my probes outside d-scan range of the system again, and watch to see if he decides to leave the tower.

I notice a couple of signatures are out of d-scan range of the tower, which will let me scan them whilst waiting for the Buzzard to move. One of the signatures even resolves to be a wormhole, which may come in handy if the cov-ops moves, which, of course, he doesn't. I patiently watch him debate going off-line for a few minutes before, yup, there he goes. That was time well-spent for me. I scan the remaining two signatures expecting two ladar sites, but end up with rocks and a second wormhole. That's a nice surprise. The U210 static exit to low-sec is pretty normal, and the T405 outbound connection to class 4 w-space could be interesting, if it weren't at the end of its life.

I head backwards through the constellation to C5a, where warping to the static connection to C6b sees the wormhole also EOL. That's a bit of a shame, as the second class 6 system hasn't been explored yet, and I'm not risking getting caught in C6 w-space purely out of curiosity. Instead, I warp to the outbound wormhole to null-sec, but don't jump through that now-EOL link either. It looks like the constellation is dying. I turn myself around and head homewards, diverting in the C3a, which remains quiet, apart from Fin's returning Orca industrial command ship, to exit to low-sec to scan.

Three extra signatures in the system in Aridia gives me another wormhole. What a surprise that another class 3 w-space system connects to Aridia. I jump to C3c to a clear d-scan result, where exploring finds two towers with five ships split amongst them, and only a Buzzard piloted. A blanket scan shows a scant three anomalies and time-consuming twenty-three signatures. Ignoring all but the chubbiest, I sift for K162s, resolving one from the chaff of gas and rocks. Continuing the constellation, I jump through the K162 to class 4 w-space, right in to a waiting fleet.

The Onyx heavy interdictor has its warp bubble inflated, and his pals in a Loki strategic cruiser and Hawk assault frigate look alert. A Wolf assault frigate warps in to join whatever fun the fleet is expecting, and clearly they are expecting something. My luck isn't good either—as evidenced by jumping in to a hostile fleet—as I am a mere 1·2 km from the wormhole, too close to safely cloak. In warp three Drakes and a Cyclone, the battlecruisers all hitting the edge of the Onyx's bubble, at least keeping the additional ships from chasing me quite so effectively, whatever I do. And I'm not quite sure yet.

I hold as the Loki moves away from me, and consider making a break for shit, the Loki comes back, ending up sitting almost on top of my own strategic cruiser. It's not just the wormhole stopping me getting clear any more. I'm not getting out of this mess easily. Just to make my predicament a little more obvious, my session change cloak fades before my resolve comes in to focus. Being actively targeted, pointed, webbed, and attacked by a bunch of aggressive ships at least makes up my mind, and I dive back through the wormhole to C3c.

Once through, I barely pause to insult the wormhole and its parents for once more spitting me 1·2 km away from it, and burn away from the locus as the connection flares menacingly. Despite the virtual chasm to cross, I am able to cloak and jink as four ships appear as one, the Onyx inflating its bubble in an effort to hold me. I'm fairly safe now, but I'd prefer to be safer than just fairly safe. Rather than hang around to see what the ships do, I pick an arbitrary moon around a planet roughly in the direction I'm moving, and warp to it. Now I'm much safer.

That was a bit too close for comfort. I remain curious, however, and warp back to the wormhole at range to see what the fleet will do. I see no ships around the wormhole when I return, and even checking with my good eye doesn't see any. A couple of minutes later, though, the wormhole flares and several Scorpion battleships appear and jump straight back to C4c. They're obviously killing the connection, which is fine with me.

'Better the wormhole than you', agrees Fin, once I have caught my breath and updated her as to my still-alive situation. I think I'll head home to relax, and warp away from the fated C4 K162 as d-scan shows me a Broadsword heavy interdictor no doubt finishing the wormhole off.

Posted in Gaming | Comments Off on Running in to trouble
Tags: apocalypse, broadsword, buzzard, cyclone, drake, eve online, hawk, ishtar, loki, mmorpg, onyx, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, scorpion, w-space, wolf